On flow in weakly precessing cylinders: the general asymptotic solution

Abstract

AbstractWe investigate, through both asymptotic and numerical analysis, precessionally driven flow of a homogeneous fluid confined in a fluid-filled circular cylinder that rotates rapidly about its symmetry axis and precesses slowly about a different axis that is fixed in space. After demonstrating that the inviscid approximation is always divergent even far away from resonance, we derive a general asymptotic solution for an asymptotically small Ekman number in the rotating frame of reference describing the weakly precessing flow that satisfies the no-slip boundary condition and that is valid at or near or away from resonance. Numerical analysis of the same problem using the Galerkin method in terms of a Chebyshev polynomial expansion is also carried out, showing satisfactory agreement between the general asymptotic solution and the corresponding numerical solution at or near or away from resonance.